Monday, February 29, 2016

Rieslingfeier is an annual event in New York City that celebrates German Riesling. The cornerstone event is the Rieslingfeier Gala Dinner. Inspired by Daniel Johnnes’ famous Burgundy fête “La Paulée,” it is very likely the greatest German wine "BYOB" dinner in the world, with both winemakers and guests bringing special bottles from their cellars to share. Rieslingfeier is orchestrated by Stephen Bitterolf of the vom Boden wine importing company.

This posting is part of a series covering the 2016 Rieslingfeier; it provides an overview. Here is a list of all postings:

Coming up: Rieslingfeier in New York in February and Germany-East, -South and -North by ombiasy WineTours in May and August 2016
A German Riesling Feast in New York City: Rieslingfeier 2016, USA
Rieslingfeier 2016 in New York – Gränd Tasting: The Winemakers of the Rieslingfeier 2016, USA
Rieslingfeier 2016 in New York – Gala Dinner, USA

Allmost all of the photos are mine. I used a few photos from other participants, which they put on facebook.

Joining

Annette Schiller, who organizes wines tours (ombiasyPR and WineTours), and Christian Schiller, who blogs on schiller-wine, joined the 2016 celebration of German Riesling. We were happy to meet the participating German elite winemakers. Many of them we know personally. Some of them we call our friends.

To welcome the Riesingfeier 2016 participants, the trendy wine bar Corkbuzz hosted a late-night BYOR soirée on Friday, February 19th. This was a great opportunity to mingle and celebrate the kickoff of the Rieslingfeier 2016 with winemakers, trade people and German wine lovers, who came from all parts of the country.

Picture: Stephan Bitterolf at Corkbuzz

Picture: Rieslingfeier Welcome Party

Pictures: Annette Schiller and Florian Lauer, Weingut Peter Lauer

Picture: Annette Schiller and Dominik Sona, Weingut Koehler Ruprecht

Rieslingfeier Gränd Tasting

Last year, during the day leading up to the Rieslingfeier Gala Dinner, there was a German wine seminar series and the Riesling Crawl, where the participating winemakers were pouring their wines at different wine stores during different times over the course of the afternoon. It was a fun idea, but a bit cumbersome to rush from one store to the next.

This year, there were no seminars and the winemaker poured their wines together at one location: The Gränd Tasting

“Taste more than 60 wines from Germany's greatest growers for only $29. For 2016 we are thrilled to announce the first-ever "Gränd Tasting" featuring ALL of the Rieslingfeier growers in one place. While this walk-around tasting will focus on the 2014 vintage, growers will be bringing back-vintage wines for context. While the complete list is still being finalized, selections include 1997 Egon Müller Auslese, 1992 Lauer Sekt, 1983 Immich-Batterieberg Spätlese, 2004 Schlossgut Diel Pittermänchen Spätlese and many more. For those interested in a more intimate experience, there are a limited number of tickets for the VIP session - these tickets are $50.”

The 4th annual Rieslingfeier Gala Dinner will take place THIS Saturday, February 20th at Reynard in the Wythe Hotel. Located at 80 Wythe Avenue, just north of North 11th Street in Williamsburg Brooklyn, the hotel/restaurant is easily accessible by taxi or subway (L train to Bedford stop). The dinner is sold out and we cannot wait to welcome you!

The evening will begin at 7pm with a Sekt reception; dinner will start at 8:00pm sharp. We have an incredible team of sommeliers from around the country working this event so your wine will be quickly checked in and chilled to the perfect temperature. The five-course meal is being designed to pair with both dry and sweet Riesling, so plan on having both at your table.

The attire is whatever think you compliments some of the greatest white wines on earth.

We look forward to seeing you Saturday!”

Pictures: Rieslingfeier at the Reynard in the Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn

The arguably most spectacular Riesling Party of North America took place at the trendy Reynard in the Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn, on Saturday, February 20. About 100 wine freaks made the pilgrimage from across the country to NYC to be with 12 top German producers, leading wine and food journalists, importers, and sommeliers to enjoy a casual dinner and Riesling rarities.

There were 13 tables with 1 winemaker and 10 guests at each table (Egon Müller was represented by his Export Manager. In addition, Ernst Loosen from Weingut Dr. Loosen and Wilhelm Weil from Weingut Wilhelm Weil were represented by Ian Dick and Nicolas Pfaff, respectively; they did not have their own table.)

The five course meal was customized by Reynard’s Chef Sean Rembold to pair with dry and off-dry Riesling. The wine service was presided over by Rieslingfeier Chef Sommelier Raj Vaidya along with a group of the country's top sommeliers.

All the wines were outstanding, but some of them were out of this world. You could walk to other tables and taste the wines poured there. Guests and winemakers also walked around and shared the wines with other people.

Rieslingfeier was founded in 2012 by Stephen Bitterolf, a passionate advocate for Germany's culture of winemaking. He was the Wine Director at Crush Wine & Spirits in New York where he helped develop one of the largest German wine programs in the country before founding his own import company, vom Boden.Side Events

In addition to the official program, there were also a number of side events. Hannsjörg Rebholz, for example, told us that he did a class at Aldo Sohm’s wine bar.

Picture: Hannsjörg Rebholz and Aldo Sohm and the Aldo Sohm Wine Bar

The German Wine Makers

Here is a list of all German winemakers that were represented at the 2016 Rieslingfeier.

Jochen Beurer of Weingut Beurer of Stetten in Württemberg
Caroline Diel of Schlossgut Diel in Burg Layen in the Nahe Valley
Gernot Kollmann of Weingut Immich Batterieberg in Enkirch on the Mosel
Florian Lauer of Weingut Peter Lauer in Ayl on the Saar
Johannes Leitz of Weingut Josef Leitz in the Rheingau
Weingut Dr. Loosen on the Mosel (Ian Dick)
Weingut Egon Müller-Scharzhof in Wiltingen on the Saar
Katharina Prüm of Weingut J. J. Prüm in Wehlen on the Mosel
Hansjörg Rebholz of Weingut Ökonomierat Rebholz in Siebeldingen in the Pfalz
Carl Ferdinand von Schubert of Weingut Maximin Grünhaus in Mertesdorf in the Ruwer Valley
Dominik Sona and Franzi Schmitt of Weingut Koehler-Ruprecht in Kallstadt in the Pfalz
Christian Witte of Schloss Johannisberg in the Rheingau
Stefan Steinmetz of Weingut Günther Steinmetz in Brauneberg on the Mosel
Johannes Weber of Hofgut Falkenstein on the Saar
Weingut Robert Weil of Kiedrich in the Rheingau (Nicolas Pfaff)
Konstantin Weiser and Alexandra Künstler of Weingut Weiser-Künstler in Traben-Trarbach on the Mosel

Next Year

Back home in Washington DC. We are looking forward to the Rieslingfeier in 2017.

Wine Tours

About Me

I live in the greater Washington DC (US) and Frankfurt am Main (Germany) areas and write about wine. I am a member of the FIJEV (International Federation of Wine and Spirits Journalists and Writers). Before starting to write about wine in 2009, I was for almost 30 years an economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). I am currently in Washington DC.